I leave the files open when I close Notepad++ out so they are ready to be used when opened.

PamS, How can the files remain "open" if you close the program? Perhaps you are only closing a window associated with the program, and the program is continuing to run in the background with the "open" files? Task Manager should show if this is the case. Alternatively, perhaps a file that is "open" when the program is closed is actually saved in some special format with extra information for bookmarks and such. If that is the case, then the extra information should survive a reboot. I am not currently a Notepad++ user, but it sounds interesting. Thanks for bringing this up.

Changing Global Background - Foreground Color in Notepad++

PamS ... Greetings. I have just downloaded and installed Notpad++ ... Never used it before.
It's probably an overkill for just editing text or HTML. There are other simpler editors, and probably better than Windows Notepad.

Anyway, to answer your other question, which seems to have been overlooked, go to the top menu and click:Settings ... then select > Style Configurator

In the center of the window that pops up, you will see the Enable global foreground color, and Enable global background color.
Check the box you want, and click the color to select whatever color you like (in the area above, called the Color Style box).

PamS, How can the files remain "open" if you close the program? Perhaps you are only closing a window associated with the program, and the program is continuing to run in the background with the "open" files? Task Manager should show if this is the case. Alternatively, perhaps a file that is "open" when the program is closed is actually saved in some special format with extra information for bookmarks and such. If that is the case, then the extra information should survive a reboot. I am not currently a Notepad++ user, but it sounds interesting. Thanks for bringing this up.

Pam,

What the poster is saying is that they close the program w/o closing the files currently open in the application separately. Thus, when the program (notepad++) closes it will close all the open files first but it also remembers them so the next time it is started it reopens those files automatically. HTH

The Following User Says Thank You to RetiredGeek For This Useful Post:

A long time ago I surveyed the editors out there at that time and landed on NotePad++. I only use it as a simple text editor and don't feel the overkill is cumbersome for that use. Actually, some of its features make it quite superior. Pam, you may want to check out the ability to customize the toolbar and, especially, the context menu. Customizing the context menu used to be a bit of work, but it looks like they have made it a lot easier these days.

The Following User Says Thank You to MRCS For This Useful Post:

Thanks to everyone that has replied to this thread with your awesome suggestions and helpful tips!

MRCS, I started out looking at how to customize the toolbar, but kept getting distracted by trying to working out how to get just plain ole text. Now that sabarnett has given me a good simple solution to that issue it seems and I have some free time, I can look at getting rid of some of the toolbar items I know I will never use. Did not really look into changing the context menus though.

For my purposes I was just wanting plain text and a background other than white like I use to have in my older antique version of EditPad. I had drug that version from computer to computer through many operating systems, but Win7 finally made it just respond and act unlike it had in prior versions of windows and even the updated version was not much better and I was getting really frustrated. I just wanted my plain, simple text editor back that I had grown to love over the past decade or longer...

Thanks to everyone that has replied here, I have gotten that back with Notepad++ and now I am a lot happier when I have to do my nightly updates to my website... I no longer dread having to do them because I know I don't have a fight with my text editor to face.

Thanks again for everyone's helpfulness, it is much appreciated. If you have any other tips, I am all eyes